Though many within his social circle growing up went straight into the workforce after high school, Dr. Christopher L. Howell, an electronics engineer for the U.S. Army’s Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate, took a different path.
Howell, 41, says he planned to work after he earned his four-year degree. But then his professors at the University of Memphis shined light on a higher education path that goes even further. Specifically, they referred him to the school’s Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program.
Subsequently, in 2010, Howell became the first African-American to graduate from the University of Memphis with a doctoral degree in electrical engineering, according to Deborah Northcross, former director of the school’s McNair program.
“I’m just extremely proud that he made the journey when he didn’t think he could at first,” said Northcross, who currently serves as executive director of the Southeastern Association of Educational Opportunity Program Personnel, or SAEOPP.
Howell said he considered himself a “very educated person” but was “rough around the edges” and didn’t know much about the rigors of research before faculty mentors within the McNair program prepared him for graduate school.
“I knew I wanted more out of life,” Howell said. “I wanted to get a Ph.D. but it was sort of a pipedream until I found McNair.”
Similar testimonials were easy to collect at a recent congressional briefing that featured McNair alumni — including some who’ve gone on to become faculty — as well as experts and program administrators from across the nation.
